Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1574

The first public anti-smoking campaign was launched by the Nazis.

The fact that the Third Reich launched the first large-scale anti-smoking campaign through public advertisements likely has as much to do with the advanced scientific research underway by Nazi scientists that linked smoking with cancer as it does with Hitler's own memories of his mother, who suffered horrifically from cancer that had metastasized throughout much of her body, leaving Hitler to serve as her primary care-giver in the years leading up to her death.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1575

Currently, seven men are fugitives of the International Criminal Court, wanted for crimes against humanity.

All seven wanted men come from Africa, and they are wanted for various war crimes and crimes against humanity. They are: Ugandan Guerilla leaders Joseph Kony, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen; Sudanese leaders Ahmed Haroun, Ali Kushayb and Omar al-Bashir; and Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda, also known as "The Terminator."

Wednesday

Fact N°
1576

In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed the forced sterilization of "imbeciles."

The era of eugenics -- of race improvement through genetics, often using sterilization -- is associated with the Nazis, but in fact such movements were endemic in countries considered industrialized and civilized well before the 1930s, and its supporters had the U.S. Supreme Court on their side. In 1927's Buck v. Bell, the court decided 8-1 in favor of sterilization so that the country could count on its best citizens to procreate and prevent so-called "degenerates" and "imbeciles" from doing so, which would weaken the country. The majority opinion for the court was written by none other than Oliver Wendell Holmes, one of the most respected jurists in U.S. history.

Thursday

Fact N°
1577

Almost 20,000 man-made objects currently orbit the earth.

Only about 3,000 of them are functional satellites; the remainder are largely considered junk -- old or abandoned projects. The space they inhabit is governed by international law, and although two satellites have only collided on one occasion, experts estimate that those objects come close to collision as often as 1,000 times every day.

Friday

Fact N°
1578

The most obese nation in the world can be found in the South Pacific.

The Republic of Nauru is a tiny island nation in Micronesian South Pacific that used to be known as Pleasant Island. It is the smallest island nation in the world and the smallest independent republic. It is also the most obese; an estimated 79% of the nation's 14,000 residents have a body-mass index of 30 or higher. The nearby Kingdom of Tonga is second, with 56% of its residents considered obese. French Polynesia (41%), Saudi Arabia (36%) and the United Arab Emirates (34%) fill out the top five.

Saturday

Fact N°
1579

The No. 1 frozen pizza in America is DiGiorno.

Launched by Kraft Foods in 1996, the same year that the Schwan Food Company launched Freschetta and 15 years after Schwan launched the Red Baron brand, in 2007 DiGiorno frozen pizzas had sales nearing $480 million, given them a 17% share of the frozen pizza market and outselling Red Baron by almost $200 million. Credit often goes to the proprietary dough that gives the pizza its signature rising crust.

Sunday

Fact N°
1580

The huge majority of active volcanoes in North America are in Alaska.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) and the USGS monitor at least 41 active volcanoes in the state of Alaska, with most of them appearing along the Aleutian Island chain. One of them, Mount Redoubt, began erupting in 2009 and has continued unabated for 10 weeks. The lava dome on top of Redoubt is estimated to be around 40 million cubic meters in volume -- an amount that, according to the AVO, "would fill approximately 11 Louisiana Superdomes." Not surprisingly, people worldwide can follow Redoubt's seismic activity via Twitter.